Share this article
First Mover Americas: Coinbase Secures NFA Approval to Offer Crypto Futures
The latest price moves in crypto markets in context for August 16, 2023.
Updated Aug 16, 2023, 1:19 p.m. Published Aug 16, 2023, 1:19 p.m.
This article originally appeared in First Mover, CoinDesk’s daily newsletter putting the latest moves in crypto markets in context. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every day.
Latest Prices
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
Top Stories
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN) has won approval to list crypto futures in the U.S. nearly two years after first applying. The National Futures Association (NFA) granted permission for Coinbase to operate a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM), the exchange announced on Wednesday. The NFA is a self-regulatory organization with designation from federal derivatives regulator the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The approval makes Coinbase the first crypto-focused platform in the U.S. to offer regulated and leveraged crypto futures alongside traditional spot trading, according to the announcement.
Perceived safe havens like bitcoin and gold struggled to gather upside traction even as signs of cracks in the global market begin to appear in the form of volatility in the fiat currencies of distressed nations. On Monday, the Russian ruble (RUB) fell to 102 to U.S. dollar, bringing its year-to-date loss versus the greenback to 33% and reaching its weakest level since March 2022. The country's central bank hiked rates to 12% from 8.5% in an emergency move. Meanwhile, Argentina devalued its already-weak peso by 18%, sending it to 350 per dollar compared to 287 last Friday. The peso is now down 98% this year against the U.S. unit. So far, the supposed signs of cracks have brought little safe-haven demand for bitcoin, disappointing expectations.
Sei Labs, the company behind layer 1 blockchain Sei, has announced that its mainnet is now live after a successful testnet phase. The blockchain's native token SEI also went live today on exchanges such as Binance, Kraken and Huobi, among others. The focus for Sei is to create a chain that offers users the ability to exchange assets easily, said the Sei Labs team. Whether this means assets for social platforms, games or NFT’s, Sei is hoping to offer the smoothest experience. SEI was trading at around $0.27 at the time of writing, around the same price as when it launched on Tuesday. The token traded at a premium of $0.64 on Upbit.
Chart of the day
- The chart by Fairlead Strategies shows the ratio of bitcoin to ether is hovering near a trendline resistance, characterizing the corrective phase since June.
- "A breakout above the trendline would suggest the long-term uptrend is resuming in favor of bitcoin. However, the 50-day MA has flattened, so we would not be surprised to see resistance stay intact for the time being," Fairlead said in a note to clients on Monday.
- Source: Fairlead Strategies
- Omkar Godbole
Trending Posts
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Crypto Markets Today: Traders Seek Catalysts After Bitcoin’s Post-Fed Pullback
The crypto market slipped to the lower end of its range after the Federal Reserve’s 25bps rate cut failed to spark fresh momentum.
What to know:
- BTC is trading near $90,350 after defending the $88,200 support zone, but momentum remains capped below the key $94,500 resistance level.
- Implied volatility fell to its lowest since November, ETH/BTC IV spreads widened, and risk reversals stayed negative across tenors while open interest declined—most sharply in ADA.
- Low-liquidity conditions dragged tokens like ETHFI, FET, ADA and PUMP down more than 8%, while privacy-focused XMR stood out with gains as the broader altcoin season index slumped to 19/100.
Top Stories
